Rest?! What's up with THAT?!!!

So I slept in today rising, sloth-like from my comfortable bed at 6am. I can tell from my shuffling gate that I've put on six pounds from this hibernation. Already I'm alarmed by the upcoming NC field trip which commences at 4PM today.

It had to be done however, if we're going to survive the drive down there I need a careful balance of rest and coffee but not too much coffee that we have to stop every ten miles to pee. It's an art.

Bubbles, trying to help I suspect, sent the following article: No Pain = BIG Gain to a bunch of folk. I felt another pound of blubber drop into place while I read it.

This made me smile:

Some people take the “all-or-none” approach, going from a sedentary lifestyle to exercising for 45 minutes or more, 5-6 days per week. At this rate, exercise doesn’t make you feel good like everyone says it will. You’re tired, your knees hurt, and your muscles are sore. After a week or two, it’s easy to get frustrated and want to give up. Instead, increase your workouts gradually and allow adequate recovery time to reduce these symptoms.

Other than the hurt knees, gradually and resting this is precisely what I've done. Now I'm hooked, just another endorphin junkie looking to repeatedly lift something or run down some godforsaken deer (on foot, not by car, where's the sport in that?) for my next fix.

And...

I love it. I truly do. It's a common privileged to be able to do this sort of stuff. To get all sweaty and feel that burn in your thighs and lift that weight, to paradoxically hate and love it. To improve yourself physically (I know some who can't and that helps tons in keeping me going). The biggest rush for me is when you get to a level that you couldn't previously do. You'll notice in some previous posts that I'm nearing being able to hold a bike (a real one, on the road) at/near 20mph. It burns in the thighs, and I can't do it long (there are other skills involved like curves in the road/path) but if I can keep on it I think I can, said the little engine named Bill.

That rush of noting the difference is the best and something you quickly get hooked on.

So I'm off to NC for four days of mostly rest, though there is the IronMan factor, who'll turn painting into a cardio routine. But it's most likely my fate to return a total 'lard ass' (my bike name) weighing in back at my starting 237lbs.

So what. Starting over is easy, finishing is hard.

See ya on Tuesday!

The Morning After

A couple of announcements here. First of all thanks to all the folk that told me congrats yesterday! It was a lot of hard work and I couldn't have made it without your advice, encouragement and help!

Second, tomorrow IronMan, me, my dad and TomS will be heading to NC after work. Yes there will be napping involved but no spooning! We'll be hanging out at the cottage and knowing IronMan he'll have me dragging the boat up and down the hill sans tractor for my interval workout. We'll be fixing a few things that need fixing and playing sorta hard and mostly goofing off.

We plan to leave after work so I'm thinking that I wont workout tomorrow at 5am since I'll need to do some serious late night driving and had BETTER be rested and completely caffeinated. It's a fairly long drive.

So today was my total body workout which was a rather fitting preparation for tomorrow's fun. Bubbles' routine is deceptive and I always think I'm gonna finish it in about ten minutes. Nope and I didn't dawdle... much. The squats and the lunges got my heart rate up pretty good, I felt those ::rueful smile:: but the interval workout on the upright bike destroyed me. Intervals at fifteen minutes are at least managable and I think easier than the tempo one I tried during the total body a week ago. Each 'interval' is a minute long so you can convince yourself you can get through it. The heart chart is fun, showing an ever increasing slope to it.

While I was doing it IronMan dropped by and gave me some paper towels, I was dripping big time and wheezing like a geezer.

So it'll be awhile before you hear from me again. Have a great day!

DING DING DING DING DING

I've been remiss but I have a good excuse, really I do!

::tries puppy dog eyes::

::tries quivering lower lip::

FINE! No excuse is good enough for my whiny gentle readership! So let's see where did we last leave off?

Bubbles had destroyed me in a Zumba class for crying out loud so I had to go home and drink heavily in front of the firepit while hanging out with my cool wife, burning wood and pondering the figure eight swivel motion that Bubbles can do and mere mortals merely strive for.

Saturday we got up (my wife and I, I assume Bubbles got up, in fact I'd bet on it) and rode our bikes to a nearby park. If you live in my neighborhood this is a nice, safe bike ride along a nice bike path. From my house and not doing the loop because your wife is tired it was around a ten mile round trip. I plan to make use of this path, study its nuances and see if I can get a workout from it without the overhead of being run down by some psycho in a car.

The whole ride took about an hour and we had fun, I definitely kept my HR below 65% which is the point of the Saturday workout. On the way back I opened it up a bit leaving my wife behind, it felt good (not leaving my wife behind you dolts, getting up to a speed that felt right!). I got up to and held 21.5 for a bit and the HR shot up too. Then I sat on a bench and waited for my wife to catch up.

Later that day we went swimming.

Sunday was our annual trip to Kokosing Gap, the prettiest bike path I've ever been on and one of our favorites. The first leg is about 4.5 miles and that's all we usually do. You can see from the GPS pic that it runs along a river mostly (converted rail line) and farm fields and looks like this:

This leg of the trail is mostly tree covered.

One of the bridges you cross along the way.

When we get to the 4.5mi mark we always stop and picnic while the kids play on the train. We were doubly blessed since it was a holiday weekend and the caboose was open. That was the first time we every got into it and it's beautifully restored!

The Gambier Train Station

Since you're at Kenyon College you also get, um, "art."

"Art" ::rolls eyes::

We ate, napped, played Frisbee and just hung out awhile before heading back. My son and I opened it up on the way back which you can see from the heart chart.

The first eight minutes were so languid that it didn't even register on the Garmin! LOL I think you'll be able to spot where we opened it up. It felt GREAT!

Monday we ran errands and went to the swim club.

Today I came in needing to do a tempo workout of thirty minutes and then Bubbles ABS for Those not Ready for ABS routine. It was also weigh in day and I was apprehensive, how much did I put on?

I tried the following on the recombinant. I went for 35 mins at level nine but dialed it back to level eight after ten or so minutes. I was trying to keep my cadence around 75 to 80 RPMs and that was tough for me to hold at level 9. After a bit the sweat started to flow which was what I was after. I'm also of the opinion that it takes fifteen minutes of work before my muscles feel 'warm.' I need to keep that in mind.

I got there pretty early but eventually the gym filled up. Marathon Man came in and was quite proud of his son who ran a 5K in the neighborhood with him. IronMan showed up and was doing some routine and so did awesomeGirl and benKingsley. I was taciturn, thinking about what it will take to get rid of this lousy pound (pounds?) while Emenem's Lose Yourself blasted in my ears. On the last two minutes I held the cadence above ninety. I was covered with sweat and felt pretty good getting off the bike.

I then did the ABS, showered and stood before the scale like someone awaiting sentencing. I slid the counterbalance up to around 240 and stood on the pad. Exhaling I slid the counterbalance down to 208 mentally preparing for the worst.

Then I went past it, then I eased passed 207 and at 206.75 the arm came up to mid point.

150 days after starting this madness, 74 days ahead of schedule I made my first weight goal of losing thirty pounds. I grab the towel, cover up and stare stoically at myself while spraying Right Guard in front of the mirror.

As I'm getting dressed by my locker in my gym I'm grateful the locker room is empty at the moment. Once dressed I sit on the bench, bury my face in my hands and SOB!

It meant more to me than I thought I guess.

Too many to thank without sounding like an Academy Award speech. Thank you Nolska (wife), thank you Bubbles. I plan to hold the 207 by going for 197, let's up the bet to 40lbs shall we?

You can do anything you set your mind to, man - Lose Yourself

Bubbles the MERCILESS!

If you missed Zumba today you missed a real treat. Bubbles worked us hard with fast tempo songs and I made a discovery as my bald head shone with sweat that ran into my eyes if I move my arms I sweat even more! Who knew?

Bubbles did some new dance (to me anyway) that I got completely lost in, I ended up spinning in circles like some hippie flower-child, lauging my butt off.

Awesome class today Bubbles!

Hell Pound

You'd think I'd LEARN! Nope, nope.

Let's see I biked into work and back home, the Garmin tells me I burned 490 calories. Then I worked out on the recombinant burning 300 calories. THEN I went home and showed my push mover all over the lawn for 1.1 miles and 466 calories. So lets see...

490+300+466 = 1,256.

Breakfast two eggs sunny side up, two bacon, two pieces of toast, coffee. Lunch, salad. Dinner, Burger King double cheese burger, med onion rings, med coke. Four twizzlers at night. That's it.

I then do the new total body thing today and it felt like a pretty good workout, shower and step on the scales. 208, sames as yesterday.

@@#!!!&&&$$$%#*@^#!!!

Calm blue sea, calm blue sea. I must wait for Monday of course the evil scale would want to make me suffer - sigh.

JRock thinks I should go on the ExLax diet to cross this hurdle. I'm thinking no (she was kidding for the Bill impaired).

Bill mows the lawn and roof which he foolishly fertilized earlier in the year.

IronMan was in rare form today, doing his darnedest to exhaust himself. He was trying the Katrina situp to stand up on technique with the BOSU ball. I noticed he wasn't going far enough back on the situp and mentioned to him Katrina does it a bit differently. He tried it and did say five but mentioned THAT was a lot harder. When Bubbles heard about it she made me 'Assistant Trainer for a Day'!

I'm going to try that tomorrow when no one's about to hear my pathetic whimpers and moans.

Next IronMan was doing his flat side up, jumping on the BOSU and doing squats. This bored him so he grabbed some I'll guess 20 or 30 pound dumbbells and stood before the BOSU. The entire gym grew still, goodMood, needsAname, theOtherPonyTail, and me all watching with breathless anticipation of what was certain to be a I Love Lucy skit.

IronMan's nerve breaks saying that he can't do it if everyone's watching! We all pretend not to watch while he hops on the BOSU with the dumbbells and starts doing squats with curls. I have much to learn.

Have a wonderful Memorial Holiday and say a prayer for our Troops yall!

Ride to Work

Thighs flash morning gloom
Frozen cheek bones, eyes water
Pedal gamely on

Oh jeeze, now I'm writing haiku ::rolls eyes::

It took most of the night but I managed to pack the incredible amount of CRAP I need to function as an adult into two embarrassing large panniers and a bike trunk. My bike now weighs more than I do. I drove my wife crazy trying to find things and make sure they were all in the right place and nothing was forgotten.

I stick the Garmin on the bike, light myself up like some Close Encounters of the Third Kind spaceship, noting my original front headlight has gone dim - its days are numbered but the Flea is plenty bright and I head off into the dark.

It was 51 degrees when I headed out and I'm wearing my bright traffic yellow windbreaker, bike gloves and my helmet. Within minutes my hands are cold and snot is flowing freely down over my lip, delightful I know. Unthinking I wipe my face with my bicycle glove, ewwww! At 4:45am the roads are remarkably free of cars, who knew?

It takes me forever to figure out how to best unpack the panniers, speed will come with time and repetition. It needs to become routine. I then change from my bike clothes to my gym clothes and start to work. Just so you all breath a sigh of relief I don't wear spandex (lack of confidence in my appearance) but have these mountain bike shorts that have that additional padding found in the regular bike shorts.

I pound out a fairly hard interval workout for me at thirty minutes, trying to keep the RPMs above 100 on the 'hills.' I hop of the recombinant and do Bubbles ABS for Girly Men routine. I didn't jaw too much and stuff so I'm mystified that it's 6:45am when I'm ready to head to work. I don't think it matters what time I go in, 3am, 4am I'll still head for work at 6:45am!

As I was showing Bubbles and Kojak my bike under full load I felt a little embarrassed due to the mountian of stuff I'm lugging around. Still I enjoyed the ride and hope I do the same for the ride home.

New Workout Review

I started my new routine today! How cool is that?

It goes like this:

• Dynamic Warm Up: Draw "U" with knee (flex ft), Side Leg Swings (point toe), Front Leg Swings (point toe), Cross Arms, Pec/Delts (15 reps each)
• MB Medial Flexion - Lateral Lunge: Hold medicine ball above head and flex towards bent knee 15-20
• MB Squat - High Chest Pass: Perform squat jump - chest pass on even reps 16-20
• Rear Delt Row Machine: 1st set wide grip 15lbs; 2nd set vertical grip 75lbs 15-20
• DB Squat and Biceps Curls: Wide stance squat; curl both arms as you squat 12lbs 15-20
• DB Front Lunge - Triceps Extension: Hold DB with both hands, extend arms above head as you lower back knee close to the ground 8lb 15-20
• 15 minute cardio

• Monday & Friday: Complete this workout with a 10 minute cardio session and the flexibility routine
• Wednesday: Follow the workout as shown above with either interval workout or elliptical workout
• Tuesday & Thursday: Complete 30 minutes of cardio and core workout

So this was an interesting routine - I only did one set since I'm still learning it but I think when I get up to speed on it I can A) fly through it and B) jack my HR up there pretty good. The MB Squat - High Chest Pass was fun and got my HR up a bit and the Rear Delt Row Machine wide grip at fifteen pounds was much more challenging than I thought it would be. What started to get me a bit sweaty and worky though was the DB Squat and Biceps Curls and DB Front Lunge - Triceps Extension how I loath lunges!

And then the true nature of Bubbles' evil was revealed, the fifteen minute cardio. I hopped on the elliptical and decided to do a tempo workout. Get my HR up and hold it. Fifteen minutes is a cruel time, not short enough to be casual about and not long enough to psych yourself up for it.

Fifteen minutes plays mind-games with you. I jack the level up to twelve and you can see my HR takes straight off and sweat starts almost immediately. I get puffy pretty fast but nothing I can't control and I'm hammering along when I glance down at the clock, how much longer?

14:30

Oh sweet merciful lord! So I bang on but the clock time was s-l-o-w and since I've already done this other work I am feeeeeling it. TV was no good I mean it was the usual news crap I guess along with the weather I think. My eyes were darting around looking for something to keep my mind off the clock. It's really weird, the time - I mean of course I can do it - I do 45 mins on Tuesday and Thursday and so I know I'm going to make it but it's hard.

I honestly can't describe how it feels, darn it.

I came off it and the five minute cool down feeling exactly like I do coming off the forty-five minutes covered with sweat and full of endorphins, kinda grinning. I'm also dreading it on Friday for the above reasons.

Nice, Bubbles, niiiccceeee.

You should try that sometime - do your lifting, whatever and finish with the cardio instead of starting with it.

Word on the street is AllyMcBeal rode her bike in today. I just ran down and checked it out. I grin at it's unpretentious retro look. It's a used Magna with a water bottle cage (Ally simply MUST get a Hello-Kitty water bottle for that!) sitting among these $1,000 bikes (mine will soon be one of them) and it looks cool as hell! The only other thing I'd recommend for her (more than the water bottle which is about 'the look' given the distance she's going) is a bike bell (I like this one) so she can ring it when coming up behind folk on the bicycle path. I've found it much easier to notify folk your approaching then screaming "On your left" or trying to creep by. It's loud enough to give them notice well away from you, let them look around and share the path.

Cool bike Ally!

I'm dying to ride mine in but at 5AM it's still a bit nippy for me, but I might tomorrow anyway.

Another Day

The get together I first thought of here will be on 5 June 09! Now that I have a date I'll try and flesh it out further as the date approaches. I hope you all can make it!!! I'll stick it over on the sidebar soon.

I managed to get to the 4:30pm Zumba class. It is not like riding a bike, you don't just resume where you left off. The class was mostly women though I was joined by the guy who'll try anything. I need to name him but it hasn't come to me yet. He's the best male Zumba dancer I've ever seen and I've seen (counts fingers) three!

Bubbles wept openly upon seeing me at her class. She claimed it was allergies but I could tell by the way she was dabbing her nose that she was truly touched.

Everyone assumed their police line up positions and Bubbles started the music grinning ear to ear. I'm laying on the floor of my room again feeling various muscles that haven't been used maybe ever kinda complaining about the wake up call.

The thing about Zumba is you're just trying to keep up with Bubbles and having a ball doing so not conscious of the workout aspect of it. I hope I never take it seriously because the fun will flow right out of it.

I can't tell you a lot about it since it becomes a haze of bad footwork and off tempo but one lady asked Bubbles to play this song I'd never heard before and there were steps that reminded me of a cross between some sort of Asian dance and a ho-down.

There were the typical moves I remembered like "Back off gringo!" and "I despise your Zumba technique!" which are always fun along with "I bow to you before twirling your sombrero over my head in a taunting fashion!" All classic Zumba moves end with and exclamation point.

It's a great fun course, make time for it if you can.

Today I got to sleep in since I was getting Bubble's new routine - I can't tell you much about it because we ended up modifying it on the fly - I will mention it's evil and will post it later. It looked fun and new and that's a good thing.

Friday Night at Bill's Dates

OK here are the two proposed dates:

• Friday 22 May 09
• Friday 5 June 09

email me what works best for you and I'll kick back up the chosen date. I'm thinking this would be a sort of potluck thingy and this Friday looks super for it. I can't see far enough into the future to predict the 5th or I'd be very wealthy. Of course it could be just a hangout thingy too or both or sheesh I'm over thinking this aren't I? I just want to have fun with you guys...

I'll provide hamburgers and hotdogs and a fire pit for s'mores.

I want this to be super casual so come when you can and leave when you want. As usual I don't have a CLUE as to what I'm doing so be prepared for that.

Did the total body thing today - it went OK but I'm looking forward to Bubble's new routine.

MarathonMan forgot to turn on the sauna so I did it for him but it was too late I guess since it takes twenty five minutes to warm up according to him. I wonder, "When did he time it?" Anyway he pronounces it 'too cold' with an air of a true sauna aficionado.

I'm slacking and it's time to tighten up DARN IT! I hop on the scale and I'm at 208, ONE LOUSY POUND from the first goal - why must I be teased so? ::gnaws ho-ho nervously::

It's obvious that I'm afraid to cross this line. ::orders second slice of cake::

Well, how bad do I want it? PRETTY BAD so let's see...

Garmin Review

Patriotic Babe Magnet

I adore my Garmin Edge 305 but I'm noticing issues with it of late that I wanted to share with those of you considering such a device. Anyone who hangs with me at the gym knows I drag the little thing everywhere.

Issue 1: It comes with a cadence sensor that you attach to the bike which I did with those plastic tie thingies that come with it. It worked well until I banged it with my heel, knocking it loose. I was out of those straps to put it back on but I think I need to take it into a bike shop to have it seriously strapped down. They have a tool for that don't they?

Issue 2: It's probably the angle of my bike stem but I simply can NOT see the display in any meaningful manner. In bright sunlight it's washed completely out. MY only issue with that is that I thought I had started the thing on my bike ride this morning but hadn't so I find that irksome. I don't need to really check the monitor when riding, I use it more as a data recording device and check it when I download the data to my computer. I use my simple bike computer for how fast I'm going etc, it has a display I can adjust so that I can see it. I also have way too much data on the thing and need to reduce the number of fields displayed to something more useful. Again this isn't a big deal for me, more of an annoyance and I think things will get better when I reduce the number of fields on the display.

I bring this up because I returned a movie to the local supermarket today. It was Jim Carrey's Yes Man which I think I liked better than my wife did. It's PG-13 and was probably a bit much for my eleven year old or at least my comfort level. We skipped a scene.

MY plan was to toss the DVD in my bike trunk pedal over there, deposit the flick and ride home.

MY WIFE'S plan was to do that AND pick up bananas, cookies, ice cream, hamburger buns, bagels, a bag of charcoal (only a free 3.6 pounder) and a twelve pack of diet mountain dew.

Out came the panniers. So I'm strolling around the supermarket attired in the picture above trying not to collide with anyone. The place was a zoo and even though I thought I stuck out like s sore thumb people were just not seeing me. Mr. Cellophane came to mind.

I went through the self checkout and there it was interesting because I was trying to pile the stuff up on the scale but not put it in the bags. Not too hard, then came the somewhat 'art' of loading the panniers but I managed. The bike handled the load fine, but it's built for that.

Anyway that's what was on my mind for today's physical activity. Weigh in tomorrow.

The weather portended rain and I was determined to ride my bike in and made the pledge on FaceBook. A few minutes later goFast commented, "Have you looked at the radar? going to be a wet ride home."

Thus began a crafty game between me and 'the weather.' It provided the perfect excuse to dawdle and begin the arduous task of loading the bike. First came the ShamWow crises. My son had borrowed it and then commented, "even though it can't be found it isn't lost." I spent about nine seconds trying to parse that statement before bursting out laughing. It was found eventually and went into my snazzy bike trunk in case I had to wipe the bike down.

Next was just kind of puttering around, a lot like a dog I guess, wondering why I entered a particular room. I was also waiting for my wife since she said she wanted to go in too and both of us riding our bikes in sounded kinda fun. I take a real towel and and other stuff and pack the panniers. I also charge the Flea even though it was broad daylight, that took time :-)

Short of polishing the bike everything was set and my wife decided to drive in. It was windy outside and had a rainy feel to it but I was in the mood to ride the three miles in, it's a nice warm up. I figured the fifteen minutes in and back would equate to a low tempo workout and I could do whatever I felt like in the gym.

The ride in was uneventful and I wanted to mention to other bike commuters that someone (God bless them) put in some asphalt patch on those nasty gaps on the overpass.

Life is good.

When I get to the gym I decide to mess around with the BOSU, just trying to stand on it flat side up. I still need a pole, lacking the courage to do the IronMan jump onto the thing. Most folk I've seen on it are pretty stable, I seem to get this ping-pong thing going where I'm just bobbing on the thing like a Mexican Jumping Bean on speed. Obviously my core needs work.

Yesterday I was bad mouthing Katrina's wobbly performance of the V-sit with Trunk Rotation. I take that back. I tried a few, couldn't do one and until I master just sitting with my legs up on the goofy thing I better keep my fat mouth shut before even trying to move on it. I find this BOSU thing intriguing.

I did a few rack runs, took a long sauna and was startled that my wife was waiting for me when I came out of the locker room which I thought was nice. The wind going home was fierce. I had to PEDDLE on the downhill slope of the overpass to get the bike up to nine miles per hour which made me grin.

Got home safe and sound. I enjoyed it and will have to see if I can do it during the work week now.

Every Time...

I got an email from JRock letting me know that I'm dead on with the 'work' aspect of this exercise stuff and casually informing me that I'll be beaten about the face and shoulders should I actually revert to the easy ways. Well the mental image of the FunRun posse beating me with tire irons and kicking my butt while I crawl back into the gym will probably keep me on the straight and narrow.

The email exchange conjured up a conversation from X-Men between Rogue and Wolverine about Wolverine's claws:

"When they come out... does it hurt?"
"Every time."

So I'm trying to tell those that are considering this lifestyle to be prepared for that. The arc I'm on seems to be:

• Blind Ignorance
• Numbing pain as systems awake and lactic acid builds
• Learning (this is endless) and getting help
• Gutting it out
• ????? - I don't know what's next but don't tell me!

Gutting it out seems to be where you hit the point of knowing what's coming when the alarm goes off and making the mental commitment to actually do it and then do it. "Every time."

For me that's six days out of seven though I'll cut myself some slack on vacations etc. For you it could be different but there will be that moment where you will have a decision and you'll know it... every time.

My respect for Diablo and Bubbles has at least tripled. I know it's their job but it has to be tough at times, heck it's tough for me and I try to hold myself to an hour a day. Imagine eight.

I did the total body thing today but I'm looking forward to Tuesday when Bubbles will unveil her latest horror for me to attempt! IronMan was there and was trying to hold two monster dumbbells (20lbs?), jump on a BOSU ball (flat side up) and do a squat. He's experimenting with the thing, the maniac. It currently takes a team of seven just to help me 'dismount' from the silly thing.

A few days ago I got the following URL from JRock which features Katrina as some sort of Diet.com 'Fitness Expert' mmhmm When I saw her wobbly performance of the V-sit with Trunk Rotation I knew my trainer could kick their fitness expert's butt any day of the week!

You be the judge:



Then some evil dude tried to speak directly to IronMan's greatest weakness:



I'll let you know how THAT goes but there will be an EMT and a wrestling mat on hand before my favorite maniac tries this stunt. He's a sucker for this sort of thing... every time :-)

Getting Down To It

The ghostPeople...

I'm finding it difficult to break free of that honey trap. I arose at what's becoming my usual 4:15am time and was banging on the elliptical doing intervals for forty-five minutes by 5:15, annoying awesomeGirl because I was on her machine. I use to get up at 5:15, ::rueful smile::

I did 9/12 or 13, I can't remember, for the rest/work and the heart chart reflects that. Not as spiky as I'd like, with big spikes in the HR to show that yes, Bill truly suffered for his heart.

My routines are now blown, I'm sitting here... well actually laying on the floor in our house hammering this entry out at 8:12pm but more on that later. Anyone who knows me, knows I do not like variation in The Routine. But every now and then you get to the point where you start pitching things out of the plane just trying to keep it in the air.

Dead weight, though that's not a fair analogy.

You (well me anyway) begin focusing on The Core of what's important. Something's gotta give, will it be flossing or gym? Flossing goes. That was easy, who needs teeth? But what if I get to the point of The Job or The Gym? Adios gym. I'm not there and I don't think I will be (things on some fronts are getting much better) during this spike in madness but I'm running out of crap to throw out of the plane. So now it's getting interesting. I'm getting to The Core.

Like I mentioned above I'm way late on this entry so obviously the blog will go before the gym. In a way this exercise in stress is helping me pair down to what to me is The Core. But I have discovered I love writing in this thing so I'm typing while exhausted and kinda digging it, yeah I'm weird.

What I'm thinking about is my son's comment yesterday, "Ah yes, the fruits of my labor" and my new found affinity for italics and capitalization in this post. I have put in so much effort and behavior modification to lose my namby-pamby twenty eight pounds that I don't want to revert back to The Old Ways. I want to hold tightly onto the fruits of my labor.

I've learned while I'm stressing and worrying about things I have no control over that I absolutely love chocolate brownies! I fight the losing battle, walking by the pan, stalking it, increasing want and need written all over my face. I'll eat a banana and fifteen minutes later my eye's will appear, cat like, over the edge of the counter probing the brownies for weakness. I'll eat a pear and fifteen minutes later I'll be pacing in front of the pan of chewy chocolate damnation before giving in and cutting a slice the size of Idaho and wolfing it down. And this isn't my wife's or family's problem, it's mine to own so if there weren't brownies there would be something else, I mean face facts I have an eleven and fourteen year old in the house. A key part of their diet is Twizzlers.

sigh

So I have a mild case of The Fear. Like the previous dudes I read about from The Biggest Loser, who put it all back on. I worry that I may hit the point where I have to throw The Gym out the cargo door to keep the plane up because nothing must threaten The Job. And I know it would be temporary but what I don't know, what I don't have confidence in... yet... is would I come back?

Because The Old Ways are the easy ways and yes I derive an incredible amount of pleasure from The Gym and those who inhabit it but make no mistake about it, this is WORK and you have to want it. Like all precious things it isn't something to be handed to you, it's something to earn.

Would I come back?

I don't want to have to leave and find out.

Later gators!

Phoning It In

Alarm goes off at 4:15am, I drag my sorry butt out of bed at 4:30am having clicked off The Biggest Loser at 10pm in a blind rage. Is it still on? I got sick of it and couldn't go the distance, sheesh I thought the Super Bowl was bad. I heard in the gym Tara lost furthering my suspicion there is no God.

I get into the gym and just goof off. I phoned today in. I practiced on the treadmill, did some assisted Smiths and played around on the BOSU thingy. IronMan and Diablo were able to do pushups with their feet on the thing and their hands on a medicine ball - impressive. I kind of like the thing, just standing on it is difficult - for me anyway. I need to play with it more.

I didn't work up much sweat and muttered dark curses when I discovered that I forgot my towel for the second day in a row. Given Diablo's intimidating email yesterday about the towels I decided this wasn't a crises and hosed myself off with deodorant.

bleh

I saw JRock, wickedWoman and fiestyGirl in the cafeteria. JRock approached me and was talking about when am I'm going to select a date for our Friday fun evening at our house. She and allyMcBeal are growing weary of checking my dark, depressing blog for the date.

Maybe I should go Goth/Emo with this blog? My entries would read, "We, the gothletes , do know how death, depression, despair, grief, misery and sorrow feels every time we get on the StairClimber..."

Anyway the date is on my ever growing todo list but I really do need to buckle down and pick one SOON.

My son is finished with track and made me laugh during one of his races. He was the lead off runner on the 4 X 400 relay and managed to come in around the back of the pack. Not bad for him and he was pleased with it. He came over to talk to my wife and I while the third guy in his relay was running, by that point they were a good quarter lap behind the second to last guy. I pointed this out to him and he deadpanned, "Ah yes, the fruits of my labor."

The fruits of my labor... now there's a phrase to ponder.

Yesterday's Tomorrow is... OH NEVER MIND!

For those who know of what I speak, I've had better yesterdays.

The alarm woke me at 4:15am and an hour later I'm on an upright bike wondering what I'm doing on it. The very second I start peddling on the goofy thing my thighs send a startled message up to my cerebral cortex...

"HEY! That hurts!"

"Suck it up."

"We don't wanna 'suck it up'"

"Look in fifteen minutes you'll be warm and ready to go..."

It never happened. My thighs seemed to be going through lactic PMS on a massive scale, the little crybabies, and for me, all alone in the command center I had to play a weird sort of interval game jacking my HR up by upping the level/resistance when it fell below the 144 line and backing off when it was around 150 so that I could keep going. I love my HR monitor for this sort of work, it's easier than gripping the grippy thingys. (Look exercise is full of highly technical equipment, we can't ALL learn the jargon.)

The entire time my thighs were burning. Yes, I have burning thighs. But this time they kept whining and complaining like a pair of recalcitrant two year old twins, unwilling to 'push through it' and just get on with the business at hand.

I was irked, "What is this happy crap?" I shout out to my thighs, "Like I need static from you two right now!"

They didn't care, continuing to throw their hissy fit.

Jerks!

With about fifteen minutes to go IronMan shows up and starts on the upright next to me. He didn't say much, he could tell I was having issues with my thighs.

I stagger off the machine and start stretching my dumb thighs immediately. Bubbles is walking Kojak through some new routine and I'm a bit envious, but my turn will come. I ask if I can borrow a towel and she says sure.

MarathonMan is over on a treadmill doing something awful to himself and the gym, for me anyway, has this weird vibe of surliness to it. It's probably my thighs channeling, but I thought everyone would be in better moods in Spring, then again look at your humble narrator. OK, I get it.

I grab a towel but I don't want to leave yet, I also don't have anything to do. awesomeGirl is next to me pointing to poor Kojak on the gym's new toy, a BOSU® Balance Trainer. IronMan was intrigued, needless to say.

On the photo to your left you can see Bubbles and Diablo engaged in the extremely advanced and dangerous, Pairs BOSU! I know what you're thinking so I'll tell you true, "You're not ready for pairs!"

It will take time to achieve that goal. Now there are all sorts of horrors to occupy our puny minds while we train for pairs and the certain corporate challenge that will follow. Like turning it over and trying to stand on the thing. Push-ups, sit-ups, there's nothing it can't do... except maybe Zumba! Bubbles, can BOSU® do Zumba!?

I can't wait to injure myself on the silly thing!

The Beat Goes On

I'm badly distracted at the gym. Does this happen to you? I feel like I have so much on my plate that I shouldn't be here working out. I storm through today's workout only to find that I can't connect to the email server when I get to work - that might not be a bad thing.

I have a mortal lock on the upcoming NC trip now, it's what is keeping me afloat.

Well work isn't backing off yet enough for me to actually write - I apologize.

Weighed in at 209 so no weight loss, not as bad as I thought given my decadent weekend.

Sunday

Well I'm feeling on the cusp of normalcy here so I'm fairly certain things will go to hell in a hand basket tomorrow. shrugs It is what it is.

Yesterday was a decent into depravity. We celebrated my daughter's eleventh birthday so I had to cut the grass and do other party prep things. Then it was the sleepover and five or so hyper girls, luckily I avoided the blindfolded makeover but I didn't avoid the Greaters birthday cake and other treats, weak, weak man that I am. Tomorrow's weigh in... shudders! We also enjoyed trying to cook s'mores in a windstorm, all in all a fun party.

Friday I amused the Zumba crew by showing up for one song and doing it in my work attire. I needed it and it helped.

I got up at five or so, dawdled and then went into the gym for an hour low intensity workout. It was empty like my head and there's not much to report from that. I pedaled and watched the Twilight Zones on Chiller.

I'm not sure what the rest of the day holds except for a serious nap, maybe I'll ride the bike or go to the gym with my wife.

OH! OH! allyMcBeal bought a bike! You should see this pink wonder. Maybe after she's done putting Barbie stickers all over it and stuff she'll let me take a pic of it. I hope to see her tooling about on it soon.

It's the little things that get you

I'm wore out and dangerously psychotic.

Bubbles has made a new routine for me and until I can spring free of the gerbil wheel I won't be able to see it. Darn it.

I went through the total body today, unfocused and somewhat slightly dazed. I wish it was amusing how (at times) the universe conspires to give you a bit part in Zulu Dawn. My daughter's birthday party is tomorrow, work is still wobbly, and my son is now in a track meet we didn't foresee so I have to go get his gosh darned trombone. Grass needs cutting, cake needs to be bought, pizza ordered and you start to watch all these Zulu warriors, these little tasks beginning to encircle camp Bill and I just want to shut down and take a nap.

It's the little things that get you
It's the little things that get you when you weren't paying attention
It's the little things that get you, it's the little things that get you
It's the little things that get you, when you weren't paying attention

Lessons Learned

Well what I took away from yesterday is that it's not in my staff's best interest if I skip gym. Today I experimented with intervals on the treadmill in an attempt to exhaust myself and my angst so my staff might, one day, love me again.

I loathe the treadmill, I don't know what it is with me and that machine but I just feel dizzy on the goofy thing and have to hold the handrails, though I do it loosely, Bubbles doesn't LIKE toddlers who have to hold handrails. It decreases the workout-i-ness if you're not stomping on the treadmill and swinging your arms like you're in marching band.

So my rest phase was 3.3mph at 3% grade and my work phase was 4mph at 5.5%

Of COURSE my shoe came untied. stupid shoe

I've become a ghostPerson, at least for this week I guess. Got up at 4:15am and was on the treadmill for forty-five minutes at 5am. I was alone in my ghostliness but not for long. Kingsley showed up and hopped on the treadmill next to me.

We watched the news of DEATH FOG 2009 - THE NEW SWINE FLU?! with somber, solemn expressions, both of us wondering how we'd survive this latest onslaught. Thank heavens there were cub reporters spread throughout the city explaining how to 'be careful' and 'drive slowly' as the school delays started to roll in.

IronMan showed up looking glum, yeah join the club, there's a DEATH FOG!!! out there! He hopped on a different treadmill as I was wiping mine down. Must be treadmill Thursday.

I don't know what it is with the SLOB or SLOBS on the evening/night shift but someone decided that I should be the one who removes their weights from the leg press as I head over to do a RackRun!. It's irritating but I clean up after slobbyMcSlobberpants.

I do a run of 3-5-8-10-12-15 bicep curls but my shoulder sounds like it's full of gravel so I stop, shower, and now go to work hoping what I did was enough to get through today.

Cya later.

The Rules

I'll be on the wheel today (which isn't as aerobic as you'd think) hopping off it for a dental appointment. I did not work out today :-( but will be back tomorrow - apologies.

OH! Today's my daughter's birthday - she's eleven and quite pleased about it. Happy Birthday to wonderDaughter!

Monastery of Madness

I oversleep a little, dragging my sorry butt out of bed at 4:34am and staggering towards the bathroom like a hungover ninja desperately trying not to wake my wife. Once again I enter that weird time vortex that surrounds the gym and start my workout at 5:20 - sheesh.

I catch the ghostPeople at the tail end of their ephemeral shift. I hop on the elliptical, set it for forty-five minutes at level 13 and go to work. I forgot my earbuds so all is quiet in the gym, AT Everest's steady plod up the Western Cwm the only thing keeping me company.

ghostPeople work in silence, unless Kingsley is in the room then it's a rave party but he wasn't there today. They also prefer cardio over weights. I can follow that, at that ungodly hour getting one's heart started must be a priority.

Again, unless Kingsley is about, then it's weight city but I'm not sure Kingsley hails from ghostville. Heck I'm not sure what the heck Kingsley is, some sort of aberration - something unique.

The last of the ghostPeople darts out of the gym towards the lockers and I'm left with AT Everest and her murderous ascent of the Lhotse Face before nearing the Hillary Step and summiting, only to do it again tomorrow.

She's been on that thing forever it seems like, she weighs less than Kate Moss and has the machine set for some horrendous level that makes my thighs shudder. I glance at her panel, heart rate of 111? For crying out loud her heart must take up half her body mass.

Bubbles shows up and glances at me on the machine wondering if I'm OK. I'm in the cool down from the tempo workout and not looking as hot as I imagined I guess.

The gerbil wheel beckons and I must go - cya tomorrow!

Manac Monday

The transformation will probably be complete by the end of the week God save my soul!

I will become one of them... ghostPeople.

I did the total body workout today ruing that I couldn't do it all. On the shoulder press I could feel IronMan's psychic glare and warmed it up with 30lbs and then upped it to 50lbs on the second set. It didn't bother me, however my inner thigh pull was bothering me until I squashed it with leg presses and the assisted Smith. Those I kept at full weight.

As I was doing Bubbles' ABS for Sissies in the closet so that I wouldn't get in AT Everest's way when she was doing her stretches in the other room, Diablo poked his head in - I guess, my face was staring at the carpet while doing alternating supermans - and says, "Bill when are you going to come out of the closet?" before wandering off chuckling.

Comedians - SHEESH!

I didn't even have time to drop by to say hi to him. After finishing up that ABS business I did a few stretches and then headed for the showers saying hi to Kojak as he strolled by.

I'm kinda looking forward to tomorrow's tempo workout - I feel like if I can beat myself into exhaustion I might drop this horrible work angst I'm feeling. Probably not, not until that gets rolling in a serious way.

I shower and step on the scale, 209lbs. I've lost 28 pounds, two to go for thirty but I don't plan to stop.

I guess my point is, I've hit a rough patch not exercise related and I'm going to do my DARNEDEST to keep coming into the gym and keep something of an even keel. I'm pretty certain that at least for this week Zumba and other fun things will be put on the back burner. Apologies for that.

I hope you have the best Monday ever!

Saturday Slow Tempo

Well things went fine with the doc but Friday wasn't as stress free as I hoped. At the moment (Sunday evening) I'm figuring that this week I'm gonna have to get to the gym early, and then get to work. We'll see how this plays out - hopefully well. But my mind isn't on exercising, so expect preoccupied blog entries when I can get to them.

Saturday I got up, went into the gym. The muscle pull on my inner right thigh was complaining pretty bad. I hopped on the recombinant and set it for some sort of fat burner at some level around six I think and went for forty minutes.

I'm already pressed for time, which I'm not enjoying. I want a Saturday where I have no angst and time on my hands. I've had them before and can't wait for the next one. Now I know to savor it. Some like casual Fridays I'm all for casual Saturdays.

Plus I wanted to take a sauna.

And I wanted to give a mini-review of Dylan's latest album Together Through Life but didn't get through all of it.

sigh

I guess we all have days like that huh?

So I took a quick sauna, ran to the gas station for my big cup of coffee, got home and then grabbed the wheelbarrow so that I could help move fifteen cubic yards of mulch for my daughters school. Then I was pretty tired and thank heavens for my wife she mowed some of the SWAMP that is our lawn and I finished that up.

Sunday was me attempting to relax hoping Monday goes better. Never thought I'd say that.

I hope you had a great weekend!

Turtle

About a week ago I mentioned I sent my son on a Boy Scout death march. Well he survived it and is very proud (rightly so) of his accomplishment. He hiked nine miles in or so, carrying a 40lb backpack, spent the night and hiked back out. He came home on Sunday and was a bit pooped :-)

If you look at the little silver turtle in the pic up above, he told me that each one is hand made when you arrive at the camp site. Some dude pours each one into a mold to make it and then files it down, so each one is unique. He's coveted that little turtle medallion ever since he joined his troop and now he has earned one. The Turtle only occurs every four years so this was his only crack at it as a Boy Scout.

Last Sunday we sat out back airing out his tent and sleeping bag and he told me about his hike. He named various places along the way so that he could remember them, they had names like the savanna, windy top, the marsh and The Hill. You climbed The Hill (you could hear my son capitalize it when describing it) on your way out and scouts who had done the hike before told him he'd recognize it when he got to it. He did. He said it had a major incline and was about two miles from the end. It sounded like a serious butt kicker.

Given all the operation feed hoopla and what not I wanted to make sure this accomplishment didn't get buried so I held off on posting it. I'm very proud of my son and his fait accompli

WAY TO GO SON!!! YOU ROCKETH! YOUR MOM AND I ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

I had a very stressful yesterday, I'm hoping today will be better but I think it hurt me in the gym today. It wasn't a 'bleh' sort of workout but I'm certain I was bleeding off stress so it just didn't feel right, I had no energy. Today would be a perfect day for Zumba and my personal variation of drunken, stumbling Zumba but I can't go :-(

I'm gonna see my doc today ::BIG GRIN::

I have two docs and they both take VERY good care of me so I look forward to seeing them both which might strike you as weird but then, you haven't met them. They are awesome ladies and I loveth them.

So I'm in the gym early, continuing my flirtation with the ghostPeople and taking my time with the workout. My autism kicks in when I see someone had left the dumbbells out and about on the floor so I straighten those up and I'm nonplussed when I see that someone had left weights on the leg press. It's a nice gym so respect it please - sorry but I think that's gonna annoy me. Put your toys away and help Bill have a happy day :-)

During the second set on the BB Back Squat on the Assisted Smith I pull some weird muscle on my right thigh I didn't even know existed. Oh come on! First the shoulder and now this static?!

I'm falling apart here, right when it feels like I could hit my stride - GROAN.

Back off? Push through it? Decisions, decisions. I push through it hoping the weekend will let it heal, it doesn't feel bad, just a pull, nothing major like the shoulder. I did slow down but I finished the set.

IronMan strolls in and I notice his walk for the first time, he has a 'bring it' kind of attitude in his casual stride that is pretty cool, all jangley. He heads over to the leg press while I plop down on the chest press machine. I set it for 90lbs (Arnold I ain't!) and gently push it about a third of the way up before backing off and resetting the machine for thirty. IronMan calls over from the leg press, "Did that hurt Bill?"

I tell him, "Yeah a little" but I'm thinking how appreciative I am of the question. I want to work the shoulder a little to keep it loose but I'm not sure that's the best course of action. It intuitively feels like it is but is it? Anyway I'm so grateful to IronMan and others for keeping an eye on me. Thanks! I do two sets of ten at thirty which didn't feel bad.

During Bubbles ABS For Sissies Who Can't Handle The Real ABS Course I'm doing the dreaded alternating supermans/plank superset and thinking that I'll only do the first set, the supermans are kinda sucky today.

Gut Check Time.

Faster then I can type it I query the central database that is Bill's Brain asking myself if I REALLY want to get back to ABS class.

Yeah, I do.

I do the second set but I didn't enjoy it! ::glares at Bubbles::

Well I see my wife has 'volunteered' me to help move two dump trucks full of mulch over at my daughter's school tomorrow. I'm so glad it's raining right now getting the mulch nice and wet and heavy.

Weeeee! Life is good, have a GREAT weekend!